


dreams that you dare to dream really do come true

by mygalfriday (BrinneyFriday)



Series: fob watch au [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-16 03:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1329811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrinneyFriday/pseuds/mygalfriday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What are we going to do with her?” </p><p>River levels him with a glare and covers Amelia’s ears with her hands. “Do with her? She’s our daughter, sweetie. Stop making it sound like she’s an unwanted Christmas gift you don’t have the receipt to return!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	dreams that you dare to dream really do come true

**Author's Note:**

> Charina asked for a sequel to Though the stars walk backward. My response was pure, unadulterated fluff and I'm not even sorry. Story title from Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

“What are we going to do with her?”

 

River levels him with a glare and covers Amelia’s ears with her hands. “Do with her? She’s our daughter, sweetie. Stop making it sound like she’s an unwanted Christmas gift you don’t have the receipt to return!”

 

“That isn’t what I meant and you know it,” he snaps, frowning. Amelia lifts big green eyes to stare at him from the safety of her mother’s arms and he melts a little, offering her a besotted grin. She smiles back, shy and unsure around the man who looks like her father, talks like her father, but somehow seems centuries older than John Smith ever was. “We’re not exactly fit to raise a child, River.”

 

“We’re no less fit than John and Melody were -”

 

“We don’t have a house,” he growls. “We’re never in one place for long -”

 

“We didn’t do that before either!” They peer down an alley hopefully, spot nothing but a dumpster and a homeless man foraging, sigh and move on. “Our human selves were exactly the same, sweetie. Nothing has changed.”

 

“ _Everything_ has changed – the universe is a hell of a lot more dangerous than 21 st century earth, River. And who says John and Melody were raising her right either? We’re rubbish at this sort of thing no matter who we are.”

 

“Doctor, stop panicking. You’re being ridiculous -”

 

“I’m really not.” He takes out his sonic and scans the area once more, looking for any sign that the TARDIS is near. Uninterested in their conversation, Amelia twines a curl of River’s hair around a tiny finger, watching in fascination whenever it bounces back into place. The Doctor almost smiles – like father, like daughter. “She deserves more than what we can give her, River – her father is a man who never stands still and killed an entire race, and her mother is a psychopath who has no idea what it’s like to have a normal family.”

 

River flinches, expression hardening, and the Doctor looks away guiltily. John was so much better at this. He doesn’t ever remember seeing that look on her face when she was Melody.

 

“I’m sorry,” he says softly. “I didn’t mean -”

 

“Forget it,” she says, voice clipped. She takes a deep breath and manages a tight smile. “It’s fine, sweetie. Really. Let’s just look for the TARDIS.”

 

It scares him how quickly she’s already re-learning how to hide from him and he shakes his head firmly, setting his jaw. John Smith is still inside him somewhere – he is capable of being him, deep down, and he’ll hold onto that better man with all his might for River. She deserves John Smith – not a bitter, old Doctor terrified of having – and losing – a family again.

 

Reaching out slowly, he takes her hand in his and lets out a quiet breath of relief when River curls her fingers around his and allows herself to be yanked into his embrace. The Doctor wraps his arms around both of his girls and presses his lips to his wife’s temple. “I’m sorry,” he repeats in a whisper.

 

River nods shakily and he hears her swallow. “I know.”

 

He threads a hand through her hair and dips his head to kiss Amelia’s nose, grinning when she wrinkles it and swats at him. “I love you both. So very much.”

 

John used to say it all the time but it still sounds foreign on the Doctor’s tongue. Not because it isn’t true, but because he’s never been very practiced at saying how he feels. River sags against him a little, letting him hold up her weight just briefly, and he tightens his arms around her with another fierce kiss to the side of her head, promising himself that he’ll make an effort. He couldn’t permanently give her the life and the man she deserved but he _can_ give the assurance that she is the only thing that matters, whoever and wherever he is.

 

Finally, he releases her and River turns to wipe hurriedly at her eyes, shoulders tense, but he doesn’t mention it and after a moment, she relaxes and turns back to him, eyes red. Amelia clings to her neck and River shifts her on her hip, managing a more genuine smile. “Ready?”

 

“Always, wife.” He winks and settles a hand on the small of her back, leading her and their little girl through the crowded London streets. On the inside, he continues to panic, his skin itching for the TARDIS. He doesn’t know how John managed to contain himself to one planet for so long without going mad but he’s so very grateful to him. John gave the Doctor years of linear, domestic time with his wife – years he never would have had otherwise. Years to fall in love all over again, to raise a child, to take the slow path.

 

They’re already well on their way to the same old life once more and while part of him is elated that his plan had worked, that his wife is safe from the Library and free to travel with him (and their daughter now oh god their _daughter_ ) – to show her the stars, to search for Gallifrey and give her the family and the roots she should have – another part of him wants to stop, to turn around and hop back on that plane to Africa and just forget about any of this. He wishes they’d never opened those damned watches. Because now, no matter what, everything changes.

 

“I don’t know why you’re so worried,” River says, stopping at a crosswalk and peering down the street, as if the TARDIS will appear. “We did good, sweetie. In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s a perfectly normal little girl.”

 

“Yes, that’s exactly what worries me.”

 

She turns her head to glance at him in confusion but the look on his face stops her in her tracks right in the middle of the pavement. People continue to skirt around them, mumbling rudely under their breath, but River pays them no mind, clutching her child to her chest, eyes huge and breath heaving. “No.”

 

He glances away, eyes pained and hearts aching.

 

“Doctor, look at me.”

 

He shakes his head.

 

“ _Look_ at me.”

 

Her voice wavers and he can’t do it. He can’t look at his wife and tell her what she wants to hear because he doesn’t know any more than she does and he refuses to make her a promise he cannot keep. John never would have. The light changes and he pushes at the small of her back, guiding her gently across the street.

 

River looks up at him desperately. “She can’t be -”

 

“I’m just saying it’s a possibility and we should prepare ourselves. We were human when we conceived her,” he says softly. “I don’t know what affect it had on her biology. She could be totally Time Lord. She could be half Time Lord. Or -” He pauses, glancing at their daughter, tiny and vulnerable and with no idea how very important she is not just to her parents but to anyone who might wish them harm. “She could be fully human. Mortal.”

 

River buries her face in Amelia’s ginger hair and says nothing.

 

When the signal on his sonic leads them not to a back alley but to the back garden of Mr. and Mrs. Pond, he and River exchange soft, anxious smiles at the sight of the Old Girl resting in Amy’s flowerbed. Where else would she be safer? The Doctor takes River’s hand, using his free arm to heft Amelia away from her and against him. “We’ll take her to the med bay,” he offers, letting Amelia yank at his bowtie without complaint.

 

River nods once, jaw set in determination, and his hearts lift to see her old stubbornness rise to the surface once more. He snuggles Amelia against his chest and resolves to keep her close. Her nearness seems to make River a bit soft, not that he can blame her. The vulnerability of their human counterparts still clings to them both when it comes to their little girl but the Doctor is selfish and he doesn’t want Melody the wanderer and mother right now. He wants the protector and the warrior. He wants River.

 

They manage to sneak into the TARDIS without either Pond ambushing them and the Doctor breathes a sigh of relief as the doors shut behind them. Walking into the TARDIS and up to the console feels like coming home and he shifts Amelia onto his hip to brush a hand lightly over the controls, feeling the TARDIS hum beneath him in welcome. He glances across the console where River stands looking up at the time rotor with tears in her eyes, wondering just how the Old Girl has chosen to privately greet her child.

 

“Do you hear it, daddy?” Amelia pokes his cheek curiously and he tears his gaze away from his wife to give her his full attention.

 

“Hear what? Do you hear something?”

 

She nods solemnly. “It’s a song. It sounds like…” Amelia pauses to listen and then beams. “It sounds like hello.”

 

The Doctor laughs, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “That’s right, my clever girl. She’s saying hello.”

 

“Who, daddy?”

 

“The TARDIS.” At her puzzled look, he gestures grandly around them and meets River’s eyes across the console. “Home, poppet.”

 

River smiles tearfully. “She can hear the TARDIS. She has to be -”

 

“Time Lord,” he finishes, smiling widely. “At least partly. I mean, we’ll have to run scans to see just how much but a full human could never understand the TARDIS on a psychic level. The Old Girl has trouble communicating with them. Such tiny brains -”

 

River crosses her arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow. “Don’t let my mother hear you say that. I like you with -” Her eyes trail over him mischievously. “ _All_ of your body parts.”

 

The Doctor flushes and tweaks nervously at his bowtie, rather thrilled to feel so befuddled by his wife once more. John never grew flustered at her innuendo and by River’s triumphant grin, he has a feeling she’d missed it. “I bet you do,” he shoots back, if only to see her smile widen. And then nearly drops Amelia in horror as a sudden realization dawns. “Your _parents_!”

 

River frowns, sweeping around the console to take Amelia from his weak grasp. She hugs her tightly to her chest, kissing her ginger curls soothingly. “What about them?”

 

“We can’t tell them about Amelia,” he squeaks. “Not ever.”

 

“What?” She laughs archly. “Why in the universe not?”

 

“Because,” he hisses, glancing around in paranoia. “Then they’ll _know_.”

 

River stares at him blankly. “Know what?”

 

“That – you know – that you and I – we -” He glances at Amelia anxiously, makes a semi-crude gesture and blushes.

 

River tosses her head back and laughs – low, amused and utterly filthy. The Doctor fights back a shiver; John had loved that laugh just as much as he does. “You think they don’t know about our copious shagging by now, my love?”

 

“River!” He flails and gestures to Amelia, who remains oblivious.

 

“She doesn’t know what we’re talking about, honestly.” River rolls her eyes. “My parents, on the other hand, have been perfectly aware -”

 

“They have not,” he yelps. “We’ve been very discreet!”

 

River levels him with a withering glance. “Maybe you have, my love. I, on the other hand -”

 

“Yes, yes, you’re full of filthy innuendos.” He waves her away dismissively. “But up until now, vague insinuation is all they’ve had to go on. Now there’s proof!” He jabs a finger in their daughter’s direction. Amelia blinks and tries to grab his finger but he snatches it back with a mild look of disapproval that doesn’t seem to faze her in the slightest. Like mother, like daughter. “And it’s been a very long time but I’m sure your father still knows how to use a sword and -”

 

Cutting him off mid-tirade, River wraps a hand around his bowtie and yanks him down to her. Her kiss is fierce and loving and seems to convey the word _idiot_. The Doctor melts into her with a little sigh, toes curling and hearts fluttering, troubles momentarily forgotten.  Squashed between them, Amelia huffs and settles in to wait for them to part. It takes a while but that’s all right – she’s a Pond. Waiting is in her blood.


End file.
